Sunday Service at Kelego UMC

15 April 2012 Today we went to church at Kelego. It is one of the newest United Methodist Churches of the district of South Sudan. It was the first visit there for a worship service for District Superintendent, Rev. Fred Dearing, and for me. The church in this village has just been meeting there on Sundays since the beginning of the year. What an amazing experience to see the church – coming to meet regularly under this mango tree. There were a few white plastic chairs for the visitors to sit on, and a very small table in front of them – draped with a white cloth. There was no building, no pews, no floor, and no air conditioning! Several thin, but trimmed, tree branches were lined up in rows on the ground near the chairs, where about 25 small children sat together. 50-60 adults either sat on a log, on blankets, or just on the dusty, hard ground. Yet, with the shade of this massive tree, the soothing presence of Jesus was present with His beloved family – amidst the heat of the African mid-day sun. During our 2-3 hour stay at Kelego UMC, we saw and heard many amazing things. Deeply sincere prayers were offered and all the people prayed out loud together in their own mother-tongue. Several rousing African hymns were sung to drum beats and clapping. The Word of God was preached. An offering was taken. Testimonies were given by two men about how God had convicted them of and, then freed them from, alcohol and its destruction of their family life. One man experienced this just that very week, and he came with his wife and child, along with another villager to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. They were baptized with water from the village borehole, and the church danced (yes, danced!) with joy at their new-found life. Also, about twenty sick people came forward for prayer for healing. They were prayed for individually by Rev. Dearing, Pastor Sebit, and me. There were older people with pains and aches, a new mother with a breast infection, babies sick with fever, and a 10-year old boy named Agele with an extremely severe eye infection – that had not been treated for several months. It appeared that the eye had been completely destroyed and infection was spreading under the skin to the other eye. We prayed, and we advised on their medical care – especially on what steps must be taken for Agele to be helped. We heard the pleas of the pastor and the village chief – for a school for their children. Right now, the closet school is 5 miles away. Even the youngest ones would have to walk 10 miles each day in severe heat or rain to get even the most basic education. (There are actually a couple of hundred school-aged children in that village area.) We were shown the site where they want to build a church someday, and we were shown the humble beginnings of what they want to become a basic school – several roughly cut, large tree limbs stuck in the ground and joined together by other limbs. The hope is that it can be developed into a thatched-roof structure where the school and the church can meet – at least protected from the rains. The need for education, for help with agriculture, for income-generating projects, and for even the most basic medical advice and disease-prevention teaching was starkly evident. But the first steps had been taken. The people had come forward in faith and hope that Jesus, who had brought them together as a church under a tree, would begin to help meet these other needs. Rev. Dearing reminded them that it would take time and hard work. But God and the church would stand by them and help them to improve their lives. The church service was closed with prayer. The church fed us with rice and tea. Blessings and good-byes were exchanged. The hour-long, bumpy ride back home gave me much time to mull over in my heart and mind – what God can do and will do in His church – which meets under a mango tree.